Ad – I was compensated for my time in reviewing this product/service.
I had lots of good intentions to start getting fitter and shaping up when I got back from New York (where I enjoyed lots of great but not very healthy food!) and then Corona virus happened. I was planning on supplementing walking my two school runs a day with either starting couch to 5k again or going to the gym that I pay for every month but never go. I also wanted to rein in my erratic eating patterns, and eat more healthily. Then we got put into lockdown and most of that went out of the window! However, around the start of the ‘stay home’ time I was able to try out a month of diet ready-made meals from Dietbon.
What is Dietbon?
Ready made, 100% natural meals to help aid controlled weight loss. They are posted to your home, and enable you to eat proper meals with no ‘meal replacement’ drinks etc. This really appealed to me because I have tried diets in the past where you have to count calories or points and I get bored after a few days! Also I need to eat proper food, meal replacement drinks don’t cut it for me! The fact that the meals are ready to go really appealed to me as it takes the hard work out of meal planning.
How does Dietbon work?
When you sign up on the website you enter a few personal details, including your ideal weight and how many days per week you want the meals for, the more days you choose the cheaper each week becomes. You then choose how many of the (huge) variety of meals you’d like to recieve, as well as breakfast and snack choices. You can filter by ingredient and there are plenty of options for vegetarians too. For example, I don’t like fish so filtered those out. There are also nut, gluten and dairy free options. Once you’ve chosen your meals and ordered you just sit back and wait for them to arrive in a few days!
Dietician tips and tricks
As part of the plan you get access to a dietician, and a phone consultation of 45 minutes. I was a bit worried I wouldn’t have enough questions but Jenny was really knowledgeable and very friendly and we actually found a lot to talk about. I explain I am a big snacker as I work from home (funny, as a few days later I had no option but to stay home!) and after asking what my normal breakfast was she quickly realised I was lacking the protein to keep me full till lunch, but she had a solution to that. She also said that it’s a great idea to have a glass of water half an hour before each meal so you don’t feel as hungry when you eat. She also said to try and avoid drinking with the meal so that you don’t reduce your digestive juices.
How do you prepare the DietBon ready made meals?
Each meal can be microwaved or warmed up in boiling water, so you can prepare them whenever you need them. For lunch and dinner you should add fresh vegetables for a vitamin boost, and for breakfast some of the options require a fat free yogurt to give you protein. You can choose whichever meals take your fancy over the 6 days of the plan, and then on the seventh day you can eat whatever you fancy – it’s an unrestricted day. This is a great way to still indulge in the things you really fancy without going overboard daily which is what I tend to do!
What do the diet ready-made meals taste like?
I must admit my expectations were quite low. I assumed the meals would probably lack flavour and might be very mushy, akin to meals that come in tins. I was pleasantly surprised and the vast majority of meals I tried had a great flavour and mostly a decent texture. I thought the Chilli con Carne could have had a little more kick, but I just sprinkled some of my own chilli powder on top. The soy steak was a little bland although the sauce it came with was great. I add black pepper to most of my meals anyway and this is allowed within the plan. The breakfast pancakes and snack bars were both big hits, and I had to stop the kids from trying to steal my breakfasts!
I also had a Vitalize Me tea, which was a rooibos, vanilla and ginger blend which was great first thing in the morning although I did still have a cup of ‘builders tea’ each morning too. The other tea is a Keep Calm tea, which had apple liquid and marigold petals and was nice in the afternoon between lunch and dinner. Each bag of tea came with 28 individual teabags.
Did I lose weight on DietBon?
Yes, but not much. I lost 4.5lbs over the month. However since I was exercising far less during the period that I was eating the meals because we were staying at home due to the virus, it’s probably not a fair comparison. I expect I would have lost more lbs were I still doing my 10k steps a day as I would be normally – and then perhaps some more if I was fitting in running too! Dietbon encourage a gradual decrease in weight, and say to expect a 4lb loss per week on average, as long as you carry on with your normal levels of exercise, which of course I have not been.
What else you need to know
- You can choose how many days per week of ready-made, 100% natural meals will be delivered to your door, for however many weeks you order. My order for 4 weeks came in two boxes. The meals do NOT need to be refrigerated, and can be stored ambiently.
- Each day gives you a gourmet, calorie-controlled main course dinner and lunch, a dessert, breakfast and snacks.
- There is always full support available either by a telephone consultation or online meetings from a team of qualified dieticians.
- As well as the information from the dietician, and on the website you will also be sent an 84-page guide, My Dietbon guide to success. It has space for your notes, as well as information about the diet plan and meals.
For any order of a diet plan made via this link, you will receive a 28 days ‘detox tea’ for both morning and night!